Companies and Brands
Thursday’s Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alphabet, Autodesk, Biogen, Chipotle Mexican Grill, McDonald’s, PulteGroup, Schlumberger, Stryker, Veeva Systems and More
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The futures are trading lower Thursday after the first look at second-quarter gross domestic product came in at -0.9%, spoiling the massive risk-on party that was held yesterday. All of the major indices closed higher Wednesday with the Nasdaq leading the way, up a stunning 4.06% on the day, the best for the tech-heavy index in years. While posting mixed results from certain earnings metrics, both Microsoft and Alphabet soared higher helping to spur the rally as both had reasonably solid forward guidance. But some analysts lowered estimates and price targets for next year citing the strong dollar and currency headwinds.
As was expected across Wall Street, the Federal Reserve raised the fed funds rate another 75 basis points. Chairman Jay Powell kept a reasonably hawkish tone to his comments, especially with the July inflation number of 9.1%, the highest in over 40 years still at the forefront of the policy moves. The positive note from Powell was that while there could be yet another 75-basis-point increase in September, the pace of the rate hikes may be ready to slow depending on the incoming data.
Interest rates were down modestly across the Treasury curve with all of the longer maturities now trading at 3% and below. The outlier again was the two-year note, which at 2.98% is still trading at a large inversion to the 10-year note, which closed Wednesday at 2.73%. Again the 2-10 year inversion is often cited as a harbinger of a recession.
Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate oil ended the day solidly higher, as the Energy Information Industry reported a crude oil inventory draw of 4.5 million barrels for the week ending July 22. Natural gas saw its seemingly parabolic move take a breather, closing down close to 4%. Gold traded modestly higher while Bitcoin also closed up almost 7% recouping some recent losses.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy. Other calls cover stocks to sell or avoid. Remember that no single analyst call should ever be used as a basis to buy or sell a stock. Consensus analyst target data is from Refinitiv.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen across Wall Street on Thursday July 28, 2022.
Alphabet, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) All of Wall Street chimed in after the search giant reported results with Jefferies reiterating a Buy rating and lowering its price target to $130 from $155. Truist Financial also maintained a Buy rating and trimmed its price target to $145 from $150, while UBS also kept a Buy rating and lowered the price target to $132 from $133. The consensus across Wall Street for the technology behemoth is set at $153.29 for now. The last trade Wednesday was reported at $113.06 up close to 8%.
ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANSS) Oppenheimer initiated coverage on the shares with an Outperform rating and a $285 price target. The consensus target is set higher at $312. The shares for the software company were last seen Wednesday at $265.12 up almost 5%.
Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) Oppenheimer started coverage of the software company with an Outperform rating and a $320 target. The consensus Wall Street price objective is $247.44. The stock closed Wednesday $203.41.
Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) Baird reiterated a Neutral rating on the biotech giant with a $224 price target. The consensus target is posted at $234.25. The stock closed Wednesday at $212.92.
Celestica, Inc. (NYSE: CLS) BMO Capital Markets upgraded the stock of the Canadian electronics maker to Outperform from Market Perform while trimming the price target to $11.50 from $12. The consensus target is $10.36. The shares closed Wednesday at $10.17.
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) Citigroup reiterated a Buy rating on the popular restaurant chain and jumped the price target on the stock to $1969 from $1742. Truist Financial reiterated a Buy rating while cutting their price target to $1760 from $2000, while Barclays stayed with an Equal Weight rating and raised the price target to $1400 from $1335. The consensus target is $1768.81. The final trade for Wednesday was filled at $1510 up almost 15% after posting very positive earnings for the quarter.
Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) Goldman Sachs reiterated a Buy rating on the stock and raised the price target to $290 from $244. That is versus a lower $233.45 consensus price objective and Wednesday’s closing trade of $254.17, which was up almost 18% as the solar giant’s European sales climbed a stunning 69%.
Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE: GWRE) Oppenheimer initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and an $85 target price. The consensus is posted at $99.10. The stock closed Wednesday at $75.86 up over 3%.
Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. (NYSE: HLX) Evercore ISI upgraded the stock to Outperform from In line and bumped its price target to $8 from $6. The consensus is lower at $5.92. The stock closed Wednesday at $3.60 up more than 13% on the strength in the energy sector.
Liberty Energy, Inc. (NYSE: LBRT) RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock to Outperform from Sector Perform and raised the target price to $25 from $21. The consensus is set at $20.58. The stock closed Wednesday at $14.44 up almost 5%.
Logitech International SA (NASDAQ: LOGI) Loop Capital downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy and slashed its target price on the company in half to $55 from $110. The consensus target is $123.81 for now. The stock closed Wednesday at $54.52.
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) Deutsche Bank downgraded the fast-food giant to Hold from Buy while trimming its price target to $259 from $263. The consensus is set at $279.77. The stock was last seen Wednesday at $258.89.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) Cowen reiterated an Outperform rating on the software and cloud giant while trimming its target price to $320 from $330. Citigroup reiterated a Buy rating and cut the target price to $300 from $330, while Stifel maintained a Buy rating on the shares and dropped their target to $300 from $320. The consensus is set at $343.99 for now. The shares closed Wednesday up almost 7% at $268.74.
Newmont Corporation (NYSE: NEM) Canaccord Genuity raised the stock to Buy from Hold while lowering the price target to $60 from $65. The consensus target for the mining colossus is a stunning $114.70. The final trade for Wednesday was filled at $45.64.
Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ: PFIS) Stephens downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $56 target. The consensus price objective is $56. The shares were last seen Wednesday at $52.92.
PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE: PHM) BofA Securities downgraded the homebuilder to Neutral from Buy while raising its target price to $48 from $41. The consensus target is set at $53.77. The stock was last seen Wednesday at $43.64.
Schlumberger Limited (NYSE: SLB) The Benchmark Company raised the global oil field services behemoth to Buy from Hold with a $55 price objective. The consensus target for the stock was not available. The shares were last seen Wednesday at $36.32.
Stryker Corporation (NYSE: SYK) Baird maintained an Outperform rating on the medical device and equipment heavyweight while cutting its target price to $240 from $297. The consensus target on Wall Street is set at $254.52. The stock closed trading Wednesday at $211.80 up close to 4%.
Tenable Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: TENB) Goldman Sachs lowered its price target on the Buy rated shares to $61 from $71. The consensus target is posted at $64.80 for now. The shares closed Wednesday at $37.84 down a stunning 15.6% despite beating earnings expectation posted
TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) BofA Securities downgraded the stock of the credit reporting company and lowered the price target to $86 from $119. The consensus target across Wall Street is set at $101.76. The last trade on Wednesday at $75.44.
24/7 Wall St.Veeva Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: VEEV) Oppenheimer started covering the cloud-computing company with an Outperform rating and a $250 price target. The consensus is posted at $229.76. The last trade Wednesday was reported at $217.66 up over 5%.
Here are Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades:
They included AMC Entertainment, Apple, Bausch + Lomb, Costco, Lululemon Athletica, Under Armour, Walmart and more.
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